Assignment : Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function

Species diversity is characterised by the diversity within an ecological community (McGinley, 2014) that incorporates both the total number of species in a region and the degree to which the abundance of each of the species is similar; these concepts are termed species richness and species evenness respectively. The Simpson’s Index of Diversity is a measure of the biodiversity within a community and is derived the number of species and their relative abundances (Knox et al., 2014). The Simpson’s Index of Diversity score ranges from 0-1; the higher the score indicates a higher diversity.

The biodiversity I have chosen to write about is defending natures' hotspots for people and prosperity.

“Biological diversity is of fundamental importance to the functioning of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems, and by extension to the ecosystem services that nature provides free of charge to human society ”(Lloyd, 2014). Biodiversity is very important to both plants, animals and humans on Earth and if one species is destroyed it throw the balance off .

Biodiversity loss threatens to disrupt the function of ecosystems, with the potential of consequences for humans as well. Often this loss is measured by species extinction rates, but considerations should be made to include population diversity with measures including changes in size, number, distribution and genetic composition of population and potential implications those changes may have (Luck et al., 2003). Avise (2004) goes as far as to say biodiversity is genetic

So we will talk about biodiversity first. Biodiversity is a group of different living organisms from around the world in one community. And biodiversity helps the biosphere because they can produce better and help other plants and humans in need. Some plants and trees have different characteristics regarding to their species.

Chapin III, F. S., Costanza, R., Ehrlich, P. R., Golley, F. B., Hooper, D. U., Lawton, J. H., ... & Tilman, D. (1999). Biodiversity and

Dictionary.com defines biodiversity as the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. The increase in growth of both economic activity and population on the planet are the central sources of the sixth mass extinction, altering the overall biodiversity of Earth. Even though new animals, plants, and other species are being found all the time, many others are also being wiped out. “Conservation International estimates that one species now goes extinct every 20 minutes, a thousand times faster than the norm during earth’s history… [and] we may be the first generation in human history that literally has

In the race to preserve, conserve and maintain biodiversity and its functions in anticipation of the unprecedented and

The three levels of biodiversity are as follows: diversity of the ecosystems, diversity of species within the communities and diversity within species. The loss of species within the ecosystems and within the community can cause a catastrophic result, as species live and feed on other species. Species close to extinction are endangered species, therefore protecting them from predators and offering the chance to reproduce and repopulate. Unfortunately, with little support within the environment, a species can become extinct due to population density. Proper monitoring of an endangered species is required in order to keep species actively reproducing and changing with the environment around them.

Biodiversity is the variety of spices within plants and animals in the environment, it is an indicator of ecosystem health.

Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. This goes for the genetic diversity, which is what makes a poodle different from a pit bull, ecological diversity, and species diversity. Biodiversity is very important to everybody on earth as our health and survival depend on it. This is why the loss of biodiversity is an issue. Having a great array of biodiversity allows humans to have a greater array of food to choose from and materials to contribute to the economy. For example, imagine if all the chicken went extinct in the world. That would be one less food source for us humans and the predators that eat it.

Ecosystem services are defined as the direct and indirect benefits to human well being that are derived from ecosystems and ecosystem function (Gomez-Baggethun and Barton 2013, TEEB 2011), or in other words, “the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life” (Daily, 1997, p. 3). The ecosystem service framework may be used to assess present day function, monitor change over time, and inform future planning, conservation, and restoration to maximize the ecosystem function and services generated at multiple scales (Daily et al. 2009; Sukhdev et al. 2010).

Biodiversity is very important because when there is a wider variety of plants and animals in an area there are more options for food to be consumed. Also biodiversity can help an ecosystem survive after a disaster happens. For example if a volcano erupts and covers an area with ash, this ash then kills all of the plants in the area then all of the wild life can’t survive because there are no plants to eat or hide under. With biodiversity the trees can grow back from the nutrients in the ash then grass can start growing which then allows flowers to grow and than bees come along and pollinate the flowers which then produce

After I carried out the entire investigation, I got the results showing biodiversity of two different ecosystems trough Simpson`s reciprocal index showed in graph 3. If we look generally on biodiversity index of both ecosystems, in both cases it is higher than 1, meaning that biodiversity index is not low. As the maximum value is equal to the number of species in the sample, we can say that in case of meadow, biodiversity is optimal, at medium

Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as 'the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live' (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystem, and legislation has gradually matured to protect not only species which may become endangered, but the habitats they need to survive as well. Growing consciousness surrounding environmental issues has enabled these protections to be